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The province of Kuang-hsi, in South-West China, is one of the most spectacularly scenic regions in the world. Its fantastically shaped hills and meandering rivers have been celebrated by Chinese painters and poets for centuries, and it was here, in the ninth century, that the scholar Yang Yun-sung was inspired to compile the first systematic approach to the study of the Form school of Feng Shui, its principles based for the most part on influences produced by the undulations of the landscape and tortuous routes taken by streams and water-courses.

Yang Yun-sung declared that the best location for a settlement would be on the side of a South-facing hill, with a pool of water at the foot. At first glance, this may merely seem to be a case of stating the obvious: the mountains would be a protection from wind and hostile attack; the Southern aspect would provide light and warmth; and the water would be vital to sustain the inhabitants. But further reasoning reveals that Yang Yun-sung must have had considerations other than Plain commonsense the side of a hill may not be such a good defensive position as the top, and flowing water is probably preferable to a stagnant pond.

A century after Yang Yun-sung had compiled his treatises, Feng Shui scholars in the North became concerned that the Form theory was too subjective. Much more academic in their approach, these later scholars placed greater emphasis on the importance of precise mathematical calculations, and compiled elaborate formulae and schematic diagrams - theories which took into account every conceivable directional, astronomical and calendrical implication. The 'Compass' theory which they formulated thus embraced some of the oldest and also very newest ideas.

The Compass school asserted that certain directions exert greater or lesser beneficial influences at particular times for specific events. The South, for example, is traditionally associated with the Summer season, and the Element Fire; but whether or not it would be auspicious to build in that direction would depend a great deal on the building's ultimate function.

The fundamental importance attached to the points of the compass is actually older than the invention of writing, a fact which can be ascertained from folk-lore and oral traditions. By the time of Confucius (551-479 BC), an elaborate ritual dictated the location and direction of the apartments which the Emperor would occupy at different times of the year, so that his actions would be in accordance with Heaven's movements. Centuries later, when China began to evolve as an empire, its capital cities were aligned with the cardinal points so that they would be a model of the Great Plan, and Heaven and Earth would be in harmony. At the center of the city - and so, the heart of the Universe - was the palace, a miniature city in itself: and at the hub of the palace sat the Emperor, facing South, this being the most auspicious direction of all.

But although both schools of Feng Shui reflect very ancient traditions, as shown by passages in the Classics, particularly the intriguing stories of diviners and mystics attached to the official Histories' of the early Dynasties, no detailed methods of Feng Shui were described until the ninth or tenth centuries.

The contours of hills which surround any given location ideally form shapes known as the 'Dragon' and 'Tiger': and when these two forms are perfectly harmonious, the resulting feng Shui traditionally ensures the peace and prosperity of the region. Perhaps not surprisingly, there fore, the impact of the Industrial Revolution was to bring considerable, anxiety for the general populace. Railways sliced through the veins of benevolent 'Dragons', and straight rails created paths for 'secret arrows' and thus unfavorable Feng Shui.for 'secret arrows' and thus unfavorable Feng Shui. Objections to the destruction of the local Feng Shui - protected by law - were made at every stage; and this resistance to any possible endangering of the Feng Shui is in fact one of the principal reasons for China's railway system being notoriously under strength.

But in many ways, such insistence that the existing Feng Shui had to be protected, though frequently derided as a barrier to progress, was not completely negative. In fact, in the Western hemisphere, it is only within recent years that conservation has been taken seriously, so that it is no longer thought suitable for unsightly cables to festoon the countryside, or for new buildings, whether residential or industrial, to disfigure the landscape - all of which, as the Chinese have been saying repeatedly, destroy the favorable Feng Shui.


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